


the new recruit

by hydrospanners



Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Comedy, Drabble, Gen, Pre-class story, You Decide, but it's the first one, is this a few paragraphs of silliness, or a razor sharp commentary on military bureaucracy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-21 07:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrospanners/pseuds/hydrospanners
Summary: Sergeant Fideltin Rusk meets the newest member of his squad.





	the new recruit

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr. Written for Advent 2017.

“Corporal.”

Corporal Thig leapt immediately to her feet, stumbling a little as she struggled to keep her helmet on her head. It was too big for her head. Or more likely, it was made to fit the head of a person who was actually old enough to enlist, which the Corporal was not.

She saluted with the wrong arm, her shout of “Sir!” just a little too loud.

“Corporal, do I need to remind you of AR 1-120?”

“Oh, this isn’t a pet, Sir.” The cat in Thig’s arms mewled, licking at the sleeve of her too-large uniform. “This is Private Whiskers, Sir. He’s an enlisted man. I’ve got the papers and everything.”

Rusk frowned. “Animals cannot enlist in any branch of the Republic military, Corporal.”

“Form 54-9-E1 says otherwise, Sir.”

“Animals create variables we cannot account for, Corporal. The Private will affect our requisitions and reduce our efficiency. It will increase the risk of disease. I cannot have a cat on my squad, Corporal.”

“Oh, don’t you worry, Sir. The Private’s been serving with us for a month now, and he hasn’t disrupted anything, Sir. In fact, uh…” She chanced a look directly into Rusk’s eyes and cleared her throat. He tried to remember another time Thig had ever looked him in the face. “I’ve been keeping records, Sergeant Rusk, Sir. From the data I’ve collected, the Private has  _increased_ morale and his presence has reduced recovery time for casualties, Sir. The squad is getting more rest and they’re happier and working harder as a result. Private Whiskers has actually increased our efficiency. Sir.”

Rusk looked at the plump, ginger cat in the Corporal’s arms. It had shrewd brown eyes, a white splotch around its left ear, and the longest whiskers he’d ever seen on a cat. It mewled at him once before going back to licking its paw in disinterest.

“I’d like to see those numbers, Corporal. And see that the Private is given proper quarters for his probationary assignment.”

Thig jerked her eyes back to him, her expression the purest undiluted joy Rusk had seen in months. “We can keep him?”

He nodded once. “On probation. See that he falls in for inspection in the morning.”


End file.
